Dean sighed. "I just can't lose someone else. If she doesn't think she's my mate, I'm going to give it a pass."

"Well, if you can't talk to her, talk to Jaynell. He can check for you."

"Yeah." Dean nodded, still not smiling, but some of the tension around his mouth eased. "That's a good idea."

Chapter Five.

Two weeks later, Eli still had no idea how Devin felt about him. The wizard had taken Eli out a few times, but they'd all ended in a hot kiss and a shove out of the door. It was almost as if Devin couldn't handle being around him. Eli knew that couldn't be right. Devin barely touched him and when he did it was always delicious. He didn't know how to tell Devin he was ready to take it further.

"Why don't you just say 'Jump me'?" Porter said after Eli revealed his concerns. "It's not like Devin isn't interested. I practically see him drool whenever you're near."

Eli smiled. "He keeps saying he wants to take it slow."

"I think you're going to have to be the aggressive one." Porter waggled his eyebrows at Eli.

"Yeah, I think you're right. I'm supposed to see him after my tutoring with Alstair today."

"Good luck." Porter gave him two thumbs up. "You can do it. Go get your man."

Walking across campus, Eli hoped Devin wanted to be his.

"Class, we are going to do a little experiment. I happen to know there is a ghost on the landing above us. I am going to travel upstairs one at a time with each student. I have enough control to not affect the outcome, but I'm curious as to each of your levels. Mr Trenton, I'm going to save you for last. Judy, come with me."

Eli watched as the professor left with a young girl in a black plaid dress. All of the students wore black except Eli. His yellow hoodie stood out like a canary among crows, but he refused to conform. Maybe he'd be the first necromancer to wear glow-in-the-dark colors.

The other students moved to form a semicircle around him.

Eli sighed and leaned back in his chair. Every class the others tried to pick him apart. They didn't like the teacher giving him preferential treatment. Professor Lorentz made sure Eli had extra study books and often referred to Eli's abilities before the other students. It didn't make Eli any friends.

"You think you can walk in here and be the star student?" Drewden sneered.

Eli choked on his laughter. Drewden had used every class to try to make Eli feel as if he was a failure for not knowing all of the information about ghosts. Eli never fell for it. When it came to belittling someone, Drewden was an amateur next to his father. "Trust me when I say I've never been a star anything. I just want to graduate and be able to support myself."

He didn't have huge goals. Not depending on his father for money ranked up there as his one and only motivation for finishing college.

"Why, I heard your dad is loaded?" Katie spoke up. She was a ringleader with Drewden-between them they probably terrorized at least three students before breakfast daily.

"My dad is. I'm not." He refused to get into a discussion regarding his family's finances. It was none of their business.

"So Daddy doesn't like you. Aren't you the poor little rich boy?" Drewden taunted.

Anger rippled through Eli. His brother had taunted him as a child, he didn't have to tolerate it from another student. "I have no intention of discussing my family with you."

Drewden stood up, towering over Eli. "You think you're so special, don't you?"

Eli raised an eyebrow. "I see you've mastered the skill of standing-good for you."

"I'm going to punch that smart mouth." Drewden's eyes darkened. "My avatar will rip you apart. No one will believe I did it on purpose."

Eli glanced at the other students but saw no help there. "I see this class consists of the bottom feeders of the magical world. Good to know."

The others remained quiet, but a few looked away.

Drewden clenched his fist. Power trickled around him. Eli watched, entranced, to see what he would do.

"Aren't you afraid?" Drewden asked.

Eli raised an eyebrow. "Why? So far all you've done is sweat profusely and wave a bit of magic around. Not exactly awe-inspiring."

A small black cat formed beside Drewden. Its eyes glowed red. Still, Eli didn't feel any alarm.

"Is that your avatar?"

"Yes, I call him Hellspawn," Drewden announced proudly.

"Of course you do." Eli watched the cat. It sat down and licked its back foot.

"Where's yours?"

Eli shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't raised one yet."

"You don't have an avatar?" a skinny boy with glasses named Chale asked.

"Not yet." Eli didn't let it bother him. He'd only tried once and he'd been too new to his magic to have much luck with it.

Drewden laughed. "You don't need instruction-you just need a focus stone and intent."

Since the gnome, Devin and his professor had pretty much said the same thing, Eli couldn't call the boy out for lying. "Well, I have a focus stone."

Why he had admitted such a thing he didn't know, but he was tired of being everyone's whipping boy. First his father, then his brother, now this group of emo, goth kids. Eli was done.

Drewden's cat disappeared.

"Is that usual?" Eli asked. "How long do avatars stick around?"

"As long as you need them. Drewden isn't that strong," Chale said.

The professor returned with the girl. He sniffed the air, but after a quick glance around the classroom he didn't comment. Instead he called for Drewden to accompany him next.

Judy walked up to the group. He thought she looked paler than when she'd left, but what did Eli know? "What's going on?"

"Eli's going to call his avatar for the first time," Chale announced.

Judy scowled. "Do you think that's a good idea? What if you get a really big one?"

"I sincerely doubt that will happen. I can barely conjure a minor spell. I'm not even certain I can call an avatar. Nothing showed up the first time I tried."

"A lot of people can't call their avatar the first time." Judy shrugged as if the subject didn't truly interest her, but he could see the gleam of interest in her eyes.

"Well I definitely didn't call one."

"Then give it a second go," Judy urged. "Try it."

What could it hurt? And besides, once they saw that he wasn't that much of a threat to their class ranking, maybe they'd take it easier on him. None of them truly seemed aggressive except Drewden and Katie. Luckily, Eli knew how to handle assholes like that. If he failed... Well, Winley, Alstair and Devin had all warned him it might take more than one time.

"All right." Eli pulled the stone out of his pocket. He'd been rubbing his fingers over it in his pocket during the entire encounter with Drewden. If he needed to call an avatar, he wanted to have his stone ready.

"Now just focus on calling a companion. Make it something that can help you with your spells-it sounds like you need it," Judy advised.

Her sincere expression held back the snide remark hovering on Eli's tongue. She seemed to think she was helping. Eli gripped the rock hard. What would be a good avatar? He had no idea what worked well for a necromancer, but he'd always wanted a puppy.

Closing his eyes, Eli focused on a dog. It would be nice to have a companion, a pet that his father couldn't take away because it helped Eli with his magic. A spurt of anger went through him as he remembered his father's refusal to even let Eli have a goldfish owing to upkeep. How much care did a damn fish need anyway!

"Eli," Chale's nervous tone skittered around Eli's ears.

He ignored him. Focusing more, he tried to bring up the picture of a German Shepherd or maybe a Golden Retriever in his mind.

"Eli!" Katie shouted. "Open your eyes!"

Eli snapped his eyes open to find an enormous hellhound staring at him. The beast's head reached the height of Eli's chest. Where the cat had been adorable, if a little creepy, the hellhound inspired fear. Throwing back its head, it let out a long, bell-like howl.

The other students clamped their hands over their ears. All except for Eli. He smiled.

"Who's a pretty puppy?"

The hellhound panted, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth. Before Eli could dodge, the beast planted his large paws on Eli's shoulders and licked his cheek.

"Master!"

The words slithered into his head like a whisper but clear enough to understand.

"Yes, I'm your master. What's your name?"

"Name me. You name me."

"Oh."

"What?" Chale asked.

"He said I needed to name him. Is that usual?"

"What do you mean 'he said'?" Judy demanded.

"I can hear him talk in my head. Is that how your avatars communicate?" No one had ever mentioned that portion of an avatar.

"I've heard that some wizards can do that, but usually only pretty powerful ones," Chale offered. "I think you're the strongest necromancer I've ever seen."

"And how many have you met?" Eli teased.

"My grandfather was a necromancer, Eli, I've seen a lot."

"Oh." A line of fire crossed his cheek. "Ouch, stop that. Your tongue is hot."

"Hellfire," Judy said knowingly. "He's a hellhound. He guides the dead to the afterlife. His breath is from the fires of creation. Some people call it hellfire, but that's just superstition."

"Well it's hot, whatever it is," Eli complained, shoving the dog off his chest. "Keep that up and I'll name you Fifi."

A loud bark greeted that announcement.

"I don't think he'd like that," Judy offered.

"No, I don't think so either." Eli sat back down. The hellhound flopped at his feet.

The professor and Drewden returned. They both froze at the sight of the hellhound.

"I called my avatar," Eli said weakly, waving to the beast on the ground.

The professor stared for a long moment. "I haven't heard of a hellhound called since Saven Reeds."

Eli recognized the name as a famous necromancer, but he couldn't remember anything else about the wizard's abilities. History had never been his thing.

"How do I get rid of it?" As interesting as it was, he didn't need a large dog following him around all the time.

"It should dissolve when you aren't actively calling it," the professor said.

Eli stared at the dog. "I'm not doing anything now."

The teacher's eyes flickered between Eli and the hellhound for a bit. "We can discuss this after class. Katie, come with me."

While the professor took the students one by one, Eli petted his hellhound and thought over the implications of having an avatar that didn't vanish. He would probably make good theater for prospective clients when he got out of school but until then he doubted the rest of his teachers would approve of Eli's avatar.

The other students gave Eli a wide birth as Professor Lorentz called them one by one to do their test while Eli lost himself in his daydreams. No doubt he should be reading the next textbook chapter but right now Eli could barely function. The last few days were beginning to overwhelm him. The idea of having more magical power and the reality were galaxies apart.

"Eli?"

Eli snapped out of his reverie to find the Professor Lorentz standing before him and looking expectant. "Sorry, sir, is it my turn?"

"Yes. Come with me and we can see how strong you are with ghosts."

Before they could leave the room the door opened and Alstair walked through.